The present invention relates to containers of the type including a container body with an open mouth selectively closed by a spring biased pivotally mounted lid, and more particularly to such containers wherein a seal is provided between the lid and the rim defining the mouth of the container body.
Such seals are normally of an appropriate compressible elastomeric material and, inherently due to the elastomeric nature of the seal, tend to slightly move the lid toward an open position upon release of the normally provided lid latch. One example of such a seal will be noted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,064 to Sacherer et al which refers to the partial opening of the lid to be followed by a manual opening of the lid to its fully opened position. The prior art also includes many examples of lidded containers wherein the lid, upon release of an appropriate latch, automatically fully or substantially fully moves to an open position by spring action. Such an opening force has normally heretofore relied upon metal springs of various types, including leaf or compression springs, torsion springs, and the like.
As a variation and improvement on conventional metal springs, it has, recently, been proposed to use elastically deformable springs such as rubber. Two examples of such usage will be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,037 to Favre, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,221 B1 to Bando et al.
Another feature known in the prior art which has a bearing on the present invention is the expedient of providing the container body with a removable handle which may be accommodated in one or more positions about the container body. Note as an example U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,872 to Dunnum. Also note the detachable handle per se disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,533 to Berry.